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Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

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Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#161

Post by soegaard »

iainmerrick wrote: post #103
gnosek wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Poland the in-house bakery in a grocery store is the cheap and convenient way to get bread if you can't be bothered to get actual quality (not made from deeply frozen dough). So if the Polish baseline is super fancy for NL, NL is better than UK and UK baseline is artisanal US bread, I wonder what baseline US bread looks like. It's made of sponge and sugar?

It's made of sponge and sugar? Yes, pretty much. It’s very bad.

"Better Bread Starts with a Sponge" https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/better-bread-s...

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#162

Post by maxerickson »

_iyig wrote: post #111
Someone1234 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American bread is particularly problematic as someone that moved from Europe. Until I found bread I liked I'd often joke that it was suitable for storage in a bomb shelter since it has an unnatural shelf-life and tastes like it. After a tedious search, we wound up buying $2.60 "Sara Lee Artesano Style Bread" which is still less good than a 70c loaf of Hovis in the UK, and certainly less good than fresh made French br…

The trick to finding real bread in the U.S. is to skip the “bread aisle” in grocery stores like Safeway. Instead, look to shelves in the bakery section for fresh-baked, un-sliced whole loaves of bread without sugar added.

Even that is a crap shoot. Here I end up buying a national brand that comes in frozen:

https://www.pepperidgefarm.com/product-finder?category=ecce-...

Nothing local has a crumb anything like https://www.pepperidgefarm.com/product/multi-grain-boule/

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#163

Post by screye »

mojuba wrote: post #65
tim333 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US the power of large corporations seems to have run amok a bit allowing them to foist crappy bread, chocolate etc. In Europe things are more regulated and it seems easier for local producers to not be wiped out by the large corporates. I think the US need some political reform so it's less easy to buy political influence.

Yes it's regulations, but there's another factor too: population density. In Paris for example, you can find food markets where stuff is brought from small farms and is ridiculously cheap, right in the city central areas, though often hidden in the back alleys. The reason this works is that this type of commerce doesn't require marketing: local people just see it and use it. Only possible in higher density population…

I talked about this earlier in the thread, and I strongly believe that their urban design decisions have shaped and in-turn damaged a massive part of their lifestyle.

Car dependence, massive maintenance costs, density that's too low to support any social or public programs....so many problems created by an idea that is described as the American dream.

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#164

Post by navigatesol »

oblio wrote: post #128
Luc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is something to this, but in my experience they just don't care. Their stuff is optimized for their own cultural values, which you perhaps expect to be more like your own than they are. I have had American visitors marvel at the (German built) windows in my French home, calling them something you'd see on a space station. On the other hand they think I must be having money problems for not having a tumb…

Could be. I find it amusing that from a climate change point of view, both their comments are basically negative: * good windows provide better insulation and reduce the need to heat/cool down a building, plus their reduce dampness since they keep moisture out * while a tumble dryer uses electricity for something which is not much of a chore (it takes like, 5 minutes, to hang the laundry and 5 more minutes to pick it…

>I find it amusing that from a climate change point of view, both their comments are basically negative:

It's almost like countries like Germany (350k sq km area) and the US (10 million sq km) have different climates and needs. This thread is filled with Europeans saying, "I went to the US once, and their grocery store didn't have produce like my French neighborhood market!"

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#165

Post by maxerickson »

mojuba wrote: post #65
tim333 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US the power of large corporations seems to have run amok a bit allowing them to foist crappy bread, chocolate etc. In Europe things are more regulated and it seems easier for local producers to not be wiped out by the large corporates. I think the US need some political reform so it's less easy to buy political influence.

Yes it's regulations, but there's another factor too: population density. In Paris for example, you can find food markets where stuff is brought from small farms and is ridiculously cheap, right in the city central areas, though often hidden in the back alleys. The reason this works is that this type of commerce doesn't require marketing: local people just see it and use it. Only possible in higher density population…

Decent parks are much more common in the US than huge shopping malls.

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#166

Post by stephencanon »

taurath wrote: post #56
mrarjen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd ague that Japan's quality is a bit better than EU but also depends on what food you are used to. Mainly healthy options wise I think Japan stands out even more.

It’s so hard to get a proper vegetable conveniently in the US, while in Japan you can get it at a 7-11.

In much of the rural US, it’s easy (ask folks which farmstand they go to). In cities, it’s also pretty easy (asian or mexican grocery for non-organic, specialty produce shop if you want organic). The problem is the suburbs. Don’t live in the suburbs. If you must, get veggies at the farmer’s market.

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#167

Post by navigatesol »

tim333 wrote: post #25
rtpg wrote: post #5

This is a bit flame bait-y but I really feel like America is getting a super Galapagos effect compared to the rest of the world. Everything is super different and weird and kinda bad, and nobody seems to notice. I go to peoples houses in the US sometimes. Some of these houses are multimillion dollar homes. The doors are all terrible. The plumbing is crap. The furniture just feels bad. The cheapest studio apartment in…

In the US the power of large corporations seems to have run amok a bit allowing them to foist crappy bread, chocolate etc. In Europe things are more regulated and it seems easier for local producers to not be wiped out by the large corporates. I think the US need some political reform so it's less easy to buy political influence.

>In Europe things are more regulated

Meanwhile, they are rioting over gas taxes and speed limit changes.

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#168

Post by freeflight »

jiggawatts wrote: post #109
beefield wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything is super different and weird and kinda bad, and nobody seems to notice. I have this a bit uneasy impression[1] that a really significant chunk of US is basically a developing country with bigger cars. [1] Based only on visiting a few developing countries as well as a few states of US. Not on any statistics or data whatsoever.

The United States is the World's richest third-world country. You have crazy levels of gun violence, high inequality, tribal politics, high levels of corruption that have been legalized via Super-PACs, effectively state-run media (Fox News), highest per-capita incarceration, a failing medical system, failing infrastructure, etc, etc... The best example I can think of to show how far the US has fallen behind the rest…

Funny story about that, the US is actually metric [0]

Still doesn't stop the nutters from opposing it because it's supposedly a tool by the NWO to take over the world, with the US remaining as sole resistance [1]

[0] https://youtu.be/SmSJXC6_qQ8

[1] https://youtu.be/8jl5epgqHac

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#169

Post by blkhawk »

Daniel_sk wrote: post #53
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s that then? I live in Western New Zealand (Tasmania), and we have to adjust the temperature too.

You can set a temperature on a thermostatic shower head and you just adjust the flow of water. Most newer bathrooms have thermostatic shower heads in Europe. But even the old ones with hot + cold valves allow you to not only set the temperature but also the flow. I think most US showers have just a single faucet where you can control the temperature but not the pressure/flow. You always have to go from cold to hot (i…

those are common in Europe too. A Thermostat is nice but it does not solve the "first water" problem. A shower will always run cold at first.

Re: Every American Car Brand Is on the Bottom Half of CR's Reliability Rankings

#170

Post by screye »

manderley wrote: post #34
lgbr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then you get to grocery stores, and you have to go to the “fancy places” to even get the baseline of quality you see in the rest of the developed world. All the chocolate is bad. While I agree with you on other points, I take issue with this. American grocery stores are a real treat when visiting. Produce is colorful, plentiful, and delicious thanks to American embrace of GMO's and subsidies for farmers. Raw ingred…

Lidl is a discount supermarket. It's not about choice, it's about the lowest prices possible with a limited amount of variety available in exchange. There are plenty of other chain supermarkets that have the huge variety of flour (?) you crave. And "colorful" doesn't mean tasty with produce, unfortunately.

It's funny how both my favorite US supermarkets are German owned. (Aldi for price and Trader Joe's for quality).

The only better one's I've seen are local 1-off stores and sometimes kirkland brand stuff from Costco for good VFM.

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